Everyone who lives in a Flood Zone should have been invited by the EA to sign up to this free service, which gives early warning of possible flooding.

Enfield Council aims to take action before, during and after flooding in order to deal with the effects of extreme rainfall or fluvial flooding.

Enfield Council officers in the Emergency Planning and Structures and Watercourses teams monitor Flood Warnings issued by the Flood Forecasting Centre.

They also use telemetry and CCTV cameras to monitor live conditions across Enfield. River level monitors and rainfall gauges automatically send text and email alerts when pre-determined thresholds are breached.

CCTV cameras at high-risk locations are used to make immediate assessments of risks and depending on the level of risk, a ‘Floodwatch’ inspection may be implemented where Enfield Council officers will visit a number of significant locations to further assess the risk.

This information and other data from residents, other agencies and partners is used to decide whether to activate the Multi-Agency Flood Plan to make sure resources can be used to help residents. If it is the Borough Emergency Control Centre is opened - there are several possible reasons for this happening:

•Flooding has already occurred and there is significant risk to life, property and/or infrastructure;•A major incident is declared by the emergency services;•Responding organisations are unable to cope with the demand placed upon them to respond to a flooding incident.